[nextpage title=”Introduction”]
The SpineRex is the latest case from Enermax, featuring a huge “250 mm” fan on its left-side panel (which is actually a 220 mm device) and two “VEGAS” fans on its front panel. Let’s check it out.
Figure 1: Enermax SpineRex case
Figure 2: Enermax SpineRex case
As mentioned, the left-side panel comes with a huge fan that is advertised by Enermax as being a “250 mm” model. However, 250 mm is the distance between the mounting holes of the fan; the fan actually measures 220 mm. We wonder when someone will step up and do something about this lack of fan size standardization among case and fan manufacturers. The model is a Power Cooler PS223012MM-L, a brand that belongs to Enermax, and from the part number you can clearly see that it is, in fact, a 220 mm model. This fan uses a standard peripheral power connector and comes with an analog speed controller and a switch for you to choose the color of the LEDs, blue or red. See Figure 4. The whole mesh of the side panel is protected with an air filter, which is great.
Figure 3: The left-side panel
Figure 4: Fan controller
[nextpage title=”The Front Panel”]
As you can see in Figure 5, the Enermax SpineRex has 11 5.25” bays, all featuring meshed covers with air filters. The case comes with two hard drive cages, each one using three 5.25” bays. So, if you use the case’s default configuration, you will have five 5.25” bays available. To have access to the 5.25” bays you have to “open” the two edges of the front panel. See Figure 6.
Figure 5: Front panel
Figure 6: Front panel “opened”
At its default configuration, the SpineRex comes with two 120 mm “VEGAS” fans installed in front of each hard drive cage, but the fans aren’t attached to the hard drive cages, so you can move these fans and the cages independently. The fans use three-pin power connectors and come with adapters if you want to install them directly on the power supply, and have 13 different operation modes, which are selected by pressing a switch (the two rectangular black objects seen on the left side in Figure 7). These fans have red and blue LEDs. We made a short video of these fans in action. See below.
Figure 7: Front fans
[nextpage title=”The Top Panel”]
The top panel of the SpineRex can be seen in Figure 8. You can open and close the available air intake. See Figures 9 and 10. The top panel supports two 120 mm or 140 mm fans, but the case doesn’t come with them.
Figure 8: Top panel
Figure 9: Air intake opened
Figure 10: Air intake closed
The SpineRex comes with three USB 2.0 ports, one USB 3.0 port, one eSATA port, and the traditional audio jacks.
Figure 11: Buttons and connectors
[nextpage title=”The Bottom and Rear Panels”]
The bottom panel, seen in Figure 12, has an air intake for the power supply fan. An air filter is available inside the case. The location of this air filter is not the best, because you will need to remove your power supply whenever you need to clean it. It would be better if Enermax had put this filter outside the case.
Figure 12: Bottom panel
The feet of the case can be rotated 90°, so you can choose between having the feet showing or hidden.
The rear panel and the interior of the Enermax SpineRex are painted black. The power supply is installed on the bottom part of the case, and the case comes with seven expansion slots. Here is one of the main drawbacks of this case. It could easily have eight or even nine expansion slots, as we will show in the next page. The covers for the expansion slots aren’t vented, but we don’t think this is an issue on this particular product
, since there are several ventilation meshes on its rear panel.
The reviewed case doesn’t come with the rear 120 mm fan. This is another major drawback, unless you are planning to use a liquid cooling system that requires you to install the radiator on the space originally reserved for the rear 120 mm fan.
A major problem with this case is that it doesn’t have a specific hole for you to route the USB 3.0 cable to the rear panel. This hole, if it existed, should be placed near the motherboard rear panel – above the mesh for the 120 mm fan, for example. You can use one of the four holes for liquid cooling solutions that are available. However, since the cable must be installed on the motherboard rear panel, you will have this cable in front of your expansion cards, which may be inconvenient.
Figure 13: Rear panel
Let’s now take a look inside the Enermax SpineRex.[nextpage title=”Inside the Enermax SpineRex”]
Both panels are attached to the chassis using thumbscrews. The motherboard tray has a huge hole for you to access the backplate of the CPU cooler without having to remove the motherboard from the case, two holes for you to route cables behind it, and several metallic clips for you to fasten cables behind the motherboard tray using cable ties.
Figure 14: Overall look
Figure 15: A view behind the motherboard tray
In Figure 16, you have another overall look inside the case. Expansion cards are fastened to the case using black thumbscrews.
Figure 16: Overall look
We don’t understand why Enermax added only seven expansion slots on this case. The whole point of someone needing a big full-tower case is to have several video cards installed, and, depending on your motherboard, this is only possible if you have eight expansion slots. As you can see in Figure 17, there is more than enough space between the seventh expansion slot and the power supply compartment for adding an eighth or even ninth expansion slot. The motherboard tray doesn’t go all the way down to the bottom panel, showing us that the manufacturer could have easily added support for motherboards bigger than the ATX size.
Figure 17: The manufacturer could have added more expansion slots
The SpineRex supports video cards up to 12.2” (310 mm) long or up to 13.3” (337 mm) long, if the hard drive cage in front of the video card is removed, and CPU coolers up to 7” (178 mm) tall.
Note that the power supply can be installed with either its bottom fan facing up or facing down, so you can decide if you want the fan of your power supply pulling air from inside the case or from outside of it. There is an air filter for the power supply fan, but as already explained, this filter is located between the power supply and the bottom panel, meaning that you need to remove the power supply whenever you want to clean it.
Figure 18: Power supply compartment
[nextpage title=”The Disk Drive Bays”]
The Enermax SpineRex has 11 5.25” external bays and two hard drive cages with four 3.5” bays each, and each hard drive cage takes up three 5.25” bays. Therefore, on its factory configuration the SpineRex has five 5.25” external and eight internal 3.5” bays. Since each hard drive cage is removable, you can change this configuration, though. For example, you can move the hard drive cages to the top or remove one of them in order to get three additional 5.25” bays or to allow the installation of longer video cards.
Figure 19: Disk drive bays
Figure 20: Hard drive cage
The SpineRex doesn’t support 2.5” devices. This is a major problem, since full-tower cases are targeted to high-end users who have an SSD unit or will eventually add one to their systems.[nextpage title=”Main Specifications”]
The main specifications for the Enermax SpineRex include:
- Style: Full-tower
- Application: E-ATX and smaller form factors derived from this one
- Material: Zinc-coated steel (SECC)
- Power supply: Doesn’t come with the product
- Available colors: Black
- Side panel: Meshed with fan
- Dimensions: 23.3 x 8.4 x 21.4 inches (591 x 213 x 544 mm) (H x W x D)
- Net weight: 29 lbs (13.2 kg)
- Gross weight: 33 lbs (15 kg)
- Bays: Five external 5.25” bays and eight internal 3.5” bays, or eight external 5.25” bays and four internal 3.5” bays, or 11 external 5.25” bays and no internal 3.5” bays
- Expansion slots: Seven
- Maximum video card length: 12.2” (310 mm) long or up to 13.3” (337 mm) long, if the hard drive cage in front of the video card is removed
- Maximum CPU cooler height: 7” (178 mm)
- Fans: One 250 mm (actually 220 mm) fan on the left-side panel (glowing red or blue) and two 120 mm “VEGAS” fans on the front panel (glowing red or blue, 13 different patterns)
- Optional fans: One 120 mm fan on the rear panel and two 120 mm or 140 mm fans on the top panel
- Additional Features: Speed controller for the left-side panel fan, top panel air intake can be opened or closed
- More Information: https://www.enermax.com.tw
- Average price in the US*: USD 140.00
* Researched at Newegg.com on the day we published this review.
[nextpage title=”Conclusions”]
The Enermax SpineRex looks like a nice full-tower case, however, it has important features missing for a case in its category – namely, the absence of 2.5” bays and an eighth expansion slot – preventing us from recommending
it.
Strong Points
- Analog speed controller for the left-side fan
- Switch for choosing the color of the left-side fan LEDs
- Flexible configuration for the disk drive bays
- Big fan on the left-side panel
- Fancy front fans
- The 5.25” bay covers are meshed featuring air filters
- Supports eight 3.5” hard drives
- Air filter for the front fans
- Air filter for the power supply fan
- Air filter for the left-side fan
- A huge hole in the motherboard tray for accessing the backplate of the CPU cooler
- Holes for routing cables behind the motherboard tray
Weak Points
- Doesn’t come with the top fans
- Doesn’t come with the rear fan
- Could have eight or even nine expansion slots
- Could support bigger motherboard form factors
- No specific hole on the rear panel for routing the USB 3.0 cable
- Air filter for the power supply fan lies between the power supply and the bottom panel
- No 2.5” bays